Corinna Freitag
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How to Thrive With the Power of Habits

by Corinna Freitag 19. July 2022

Habits are powerful. And they are great, when they help us to save time and energy, and to be more efficient. But there is also a flip side and habits can prevent us from doing the right things and being effective. Why are habits so powerful?

How our brain works

From a neuroscientific standpoint, when we learn something new, neurons in our brain assemble to form thousands of synaptic connections and those connections then assemble into complex, three-dimensional neurological networks. Our brain circuitry regarding the new learning enhances with practicing the new learning over and over again. Through frequent repetition the neurons that fire together become more and more wired together. You can call a habit a well-established brain circuitry or a highway of neurons.

The advantage of habits

Habits run unconsciously just like an automatic software program or a macro without thinking. We are on autopilot. This is great to save time and energy. For example, when we get up in the morning we do not need to search for the bathroom or think if we brush first our teeth or take a shower. We just follow our day-to-day routine.

Habits can be changed

In a lecture by the neurobiologist Gerald Hüther I learned that human behaviors are genetically not programmed. It develops by the experiences, which we make during our life. Thus, we are able to change and to change our habits. We have no excuses for our bad habits. We have sole responsibility.

The different phases of learnings

And here starts the trouble – when we want to get rid of bad habits or want to learn something new. When we want to get rid of bad habits we fall into old patterns. And when we want to learn something new, at the beginning it feels odd and uncomfortable. For example, fold your hands. Automatically, one of your thumbs will be in front of the others. For me the left thumb is in front. Now, do it the other way around. If I fold my hands with the right thumb in front, this feels so awkward. And this is only about folding our hands!

Albert Bandura developed a model about different phases of learnings. The first phase is called unconscious incompetence. We do not have the knowledge or skills to do something. But we are also not aware of this. So, it does not bother us. When we start to learn something new, we get into the next phase, called conscious incompetence. We might have already more knowledge and skills about this something compared to the phase of unconscious incompetence as we started already to learn and practice. But now we are aware of our incompetence. And it troubles us. Even though, that this is a great step and the most important to get aware of something and we should be proud of us. The third phase is the conscious competence. This is most fun as we acquired the new knowledge and skills. They are not fully developed and therefore, we need to concentrate, when we are doing it. And with the last phase we are back to our habits. It is called automated competence. The new knowledge and skills became a routine.

The level of competence can be correlated with motivation. At the beginning, when we have only minor knowledge and skills our enthusiasm is very high. Interestingly, when our competence increases our motivation decreases. In the last phase, when we attained mastery regarding our new knowledge and skills, we become again enthusiastic. Literally our motivation comes back overnight. Unfortunately, if we want to be highly engaged masters in a certain area, we have to go through these phases. And during those phases it is completely normal that we go through plateaus, in which it feels that we make no progress or even that we have setbacks.

Start acting and practicing while enjoying the process

When we want to change something or learn or do something new, we cannot have the expectation that everything works and feels good right away. Most of the time at the beginning it feels strange. And our system wants to keep us in our comfort zone as this saves energy. It starts to feel good and comfortable through action and repetition. And with the knowledge, that it is hard to change something and learn something new, we can stop to blame ourselves in case it does not work immediately. Instead we should be proud that we got aware of what we want to change and start acting and practicing with having fun and enjoying the process. Eventually we will get rid of the bad habit and we will enrich our portfolio with new great habits and skills.

Which new habit do you want to learn?

Photo by Ray Bilcliff

19. July 2022 2 Comments 555 Views

How You Make Yourself More Visible Even as an Introvert with Fun and Ease

by Corinna Freitag 7. December 2021

Working Out Loud is a great tool to make yourself more visible. And it even works if you are more on the introvert side and like to stay in the background. I am introvert and I like to stay in the background. I struggle with making myself visible and to show my work, ideas, thoughts, learnings and discoveries to others.

About a year ago a colleague of mine asked me, if I like to start with her a Working Out Loud (WOL) circle. At that time, I had no clue what WOL is. I bought John Stepper’s WOL book who is the creator of WOL and started my discovery. WOL consists out of the following five elements:

Five Elements of Working Out Loud

  • Relationships: Relationships are the heart of WOL as WOL is something you do together with other and for people.
  • Generosity: This is a change in perspective. You give something to other people and you do not expect to get anything back – even not a “Thank You”. You contribute with generosity.
  • Visible Work: You make your work visible by sharing it with other persons.
  • Purposeful Discovery: You do all the above activities by having a learning goal in your mind. This orients your activities.
  • Growth Mindset: A growth mindset helps you to develop an open, curious approach to life and work. And it helps you to improve your skills.

What is a WOL circle and what happens in a WOL circle?

A WOL circle consists out of about 4 to 5 people. You meet once per week for about an hour for 12 weeks. In week 1 you start by picking your own individual goal. During the following 11 weeks each week you work on specific tasks. All tasks bring you closer and closer to achieve your goal.

As I started to read John Stepper’s book first I thought kind of “Yeah – great advice if you are extrovert. But this is nothing for an introvert person like me.” By further reading the book I realized more and more that the concept works also for introverts, not to say that it is a great approach for introverts. There are so many digital possibilities out there as Social Media and digital platforms in your private and in your work life that you can use. I feel much more comfortable to use these digital possibilities to make myself visible than being in a room full of people and have to make small talk. As soon as I realized this I started to apply the concepts of WOL in my work life. I started to share my learnings on different digital platforms that are available at my company. As I work for a big company, suddenly, I interact with colleagues from other divisions who I never would have gotten in contact with otherwise. This is fun. In addition, I created a WOL circle with my colleague who originally had asked me if I want to start a circle with her. We were 5 people and went together on the WOL journey. The great thing doing this together with other people is that there are persons who support and help you when you are stuck. Or you realize that you are not the only person who struggles with something. And for sure your accountability increases, as you meet regularly and exchange how everyone masters the weekly tasks.

Thanks to WOL I started to make myself more visible. About a year after I started my WOL journey, I even have my own blog and post on different Social Media channels. In addition, WOL helps you to change your habits and achieve your goals step by step. If you want to learn more visit www.workingoutloud.com, read John Stepper’s book or join a WOL circle and just Work Out Loud.

Photo by Fauxels

7. December 2021 0 Comment 471 Views

How We Can Grow Through Differences

by Corinna Freitag 23. November 2021

During one of my last coaching sessions my coach said, that usually partnerships bloom that look at the beginning a bit difficult. And a partner- or a friendship with so many great similarities, that you understand each other without saying a word and that you feel like soulmates, very often fails after a while. The reason for this is that potential to grow is only possible if differences exist. If the other person is too similar, this potential cannot arise. If a partnership has also painful moments and conflicts to a certain degree we can break out of our patterns. If another person maybe even pampers us, our patterns are supported and we do not have any reasons to escape from them and to grow.

First her statement felt not very comfortable. And this is the point. If we want to evolve, we need to get out of our comfort zone.

Reflecting her statement several examples out of my life came to my mind. One is, that I am not very flexible. I like to make plans and to control. And I am happy, if everything works according to my plan. Around me are a lot of people who drive me crazy as they are very flexible. If I ask my husband in the morning if he likes to have lunch with me at 02:00 pm his answer is usually that he does not know when he will be hungry and he wants to decide spontaneously when to have lunch. When I work together with my Indian colleagues very often they are late for a meeting or cancel it on short notice. I have several friends who are very often late to our appointments or even do not show up. Regarding my (almost) nonexistent flexibility I have a lot of learning opportunities in my private and professional life. So far, I was not very happy when such a learning opportunity presented itself and I wanted that the others change their behavior. I started to change my attitude and to embrace all the situations, where I have to be more flexible. At the beginning it felt awkward. After a while, I was able to enjoy it a little. I recognized that being flexible gives me more freedom. I am still on the learning curve. But I get better and better and enjoy my newly gained flexibility more and more.

Interestingly, very shortly after the statement of my coach I had a training about diversity & inclusion recommended by my manager. At the beginning of the workshop I learned that if I can choose the person with whom I would like to work together, I will go for the one with the most similarities, even that I know that the best teams are diverse. This was a great eye-opener. At work I started to meet and exchange more with colleagues, who are different compared to me. For example, they have a different thinking-style, age, nationality or job level. With most colleagues I have inspiring conversations and great learnings.

If we embrace the opposite and look proactively for the exchange with people, who are different to us, we can grow enormously with each other. I have great experiences applying this to my life. It takes me more and more out of my comfort zone, which feels less and less uncomfortable.

Photo by Matheus Viana

23. November 2021 0 Comment 542 Views
A Great Model to Understand Ourselves and Others Better

A Great Model to Understand Ourselves and Others Better

by Corinna Freitag 9. November 2021

Already Hippocrates, a Greek physician, who lived around 400 BC, had developed a model that helped to understand ourselves and others better. He classified humans in 4 different temperaments – the choleric, sanguine, apathetic and melancholic person. The former two are extrovert, whereas the latter two are introvert. Hippocrates related different qualities to all of the different types as intuitive, choleric and aggressive to the choleric, inspirational, nervous and hectic to the sanguine, imaginative, afraid and indecisive to the apathetic, and intellectual, melancholic and worn out to the melancholic person.

The Swiss psychiatrist C. G. Jung developed the model of the psychological types, which was first published in 1921. He identified 3 sets of preferences:

  • 2 main attitude types: Introversion ↔ Extraversion
  • 2 judging or rational functions of consciousness: Thinking ↔ Feeling
  • 2 perceiving or non-rational functions of consciousness: Sensation ↔ Intuition

Jung combined these in 8 psychological types: extraverted sensation / introverted sensation; extraverted intuition / introverted intuition; extraverted thinking / introverted thinking; and extraverted feeling / introverted feeling.

The Insights Discovery model is built on the Jungian typology and classifies 4 main color energies: red, blue, yellow and green. Individuals with a preference for

Fiery Red energy
  • Have a strong determination that influences those they interact with
  • Approach others in a direct and straightforward manner
  • Are single-minded and determined in their focus on results
  • Are active and move in a positive and firm direction
  • Seek an outcome that is specific and tangible
Cold Blue energy
  • Think things through before committing to action
  • Desire to know and understand the world around them
  • Like information to be accurate and complete before proceeding
  • Maintain a detached and objective standpoint
  • Value independence and intellect
Sunshine Yellow energy
  • Radiate enthusiasm and encourage participation
  • Enjoy and seek the company of others
  • Have a desire to be involved
  • Approach others in a persuasive, engaging and inviting manner
  • Like to be noticed and appreciated for their contributions
Earth Green energy
  • Prefer democratic approaches that respect the individual
  • Ensure all individual perspectives are heard and considered in making choices or decisions
  • Seek harmony and depth in relationships
  • View the world through what they value and what is important to them
  • Defend what they value with quiet determination and persistence

In 2015 when I lived in Shanghai I did my first Insights Discovery Personal Profile thanks to the company for which I work. My blue and green energy are very high and almost at the same level, whereas my red and yellow energy are very low. The first years I was not very happy about this result as I wanted to have less of the green and far more of the red energy, especially as I struggled with going into conflicts. Luckily and thanks to my manager this perception changed beginning of 2021. With our team we did another Discovery Personal Profile. My outcome was almost the same as in 2015. What was different this time? First of all, the feedback of my manager was very important to me. She told me that I am a very important member of the team because of my green energy. In addition, I further reflected on my Insights results and started to speak about it with colleagues. I spoke with colleagues with similar energies as mine but also with colleagues with totally different energies compared to mine. A colleague who has also a lot of the earth green energy told me, that she experienced that she can speak up very well for other people. But she finds it difficult to speak up for herself. I recognized the same for me. And I wondered, why I am not able to speak up for myself. Based on the energies it is logical, as the green energy helps to stand up for others. So, I started to use my green energy for myself. And it worked. So far, I shied away from conflicts. And now I look forward to conflicts to have possibilities to practice. From further colleagues with higher green energy I learned, that they are able to apply the red energy, when needed, even that they feel more comfortable in their green energy. And very interestingly, another colleague who has a lot of the fiery red energy told me, that he envies me, because of my green energy, which he is lacking. Until that moment for some reason I thought that people who are high in the red energy think of people with green energy very poorly. He explained to me that he experienced a lot of situations, in which he trod on other’s toes due to his high red and low green energy. This made it very difficult for him to work together with others and to collaborate with them. He had to learn how to change his behavior in order not to affront other people. He learned it. But it does not come naturally to him. It is an effort for him.

Insights did not only help me to understand myself better and to improve my behavior, it also helped me to understand others better. For example, years ago I had a manager, who got very angry whenever I gave her constructive feedback. Due to my high green energy I went on giving her feedback, even though her response was not very nice. But from time to time she told me how much she appreciates my feedback and I should not stop doing it. I did not understand this. Why did she tell me, that she appreciates my feedback, when every time I give her feedback she gets very angry? Thanks to my colleague with the high red energy I was able to understand this years later. He said that the first moment he gets feedback, he also receives it not very well. But he starts to think about it and it sinks in. And after some time, he is able to accept it or maybe even to embrace it. With this explanation it made click. He had described exactly the behavior of my former manager. For future encounters with persons with high red energy I know now that it is worth to give them constructive feedback or tell them my opinion, even if their immediate reaction might not be very nice.

Some people told me that they do not like Insights as it leads to stereotyped thinking. If the concept is abused and people use it for clichés and as an apology for their bad behaviors and weaknesses, it is true. But this is true for a lot of things, especially in the technical and digital area. If they are used in the wrong way, they can cause harm. Insights is a powerful tool if you use it for self-refection and you are willing to change. And if you use it to understand others better. It helped me to get more clarity about my strength and weaknesses, to understand why I behave how I behave and to understand why some things in my life went well and some not so well. In addition, I am able to understand other people better. And the most important is, that it helped me to change myself for the better. For example, now I go into conflicts. I do not love conflicts and probably will never love them. But I do not avoid them anymore. I take them. To me this is a great improvement.

Photo by Alex

9. November 2021 0 Comment 483 Views
Is Science Based on Believes & Assumptions?

Is Science Based on Believes & Assumptions?

by Corinna Freitag 2. November 2021

I love scientific models as they explain the world and answer the why. Unfortunately, I had to learn, that they are only models. Science is made up of hypothesis and theory, of observation, experience, believe, and assumption. Based on this, models are developed, which might be the truth or not.

In school one of my majors was biology, which I originally wanted to study at University. During school I realized that biology has a lot of assumptions, which might be true or not. I missed the substantial proof. This was one of the reasons, that I decided to study chemistry instead. I believed that the models in chemistry are based on substantial proof and therefore true. I guess I was very ignorant and maybe also a bit naïve, as it took me till my PhD to grasp, that also the models in chemistry are developed based on hypothesis and theory, of observation, experience and believe and might be true or not. I remember, that my professor asked me to develop a model based on the results of all my experiments to be published in my PhD thesis and papers. And I thought, that this will be only an assumption and not the truth. This was the day I finally lost my naivety regarding scientific models.

Daniel Kahneman’s book „Thinking fast and slow” supports that scientific models are only models and not the true reality. In his book he describes how the two ways we make choices: fast, intuitive thinking, and slow, rational thinking work and how and why it leads us to wrong assumptions and decisions. The author refers to a lot of very interesting statistical examples. One of them is the law of small numbers. A study about the incidence rate of kidney cancer in the US had a remarkable result. The counties with the lowest rate of kidney cancer were mainly found in rural sparsely populated federal states. To me it was tempting to conclude, that the cancer rate is lower on the countryside due to less pollution. As it turned out, this conclusion is wrong. The fact is, that less people live on the countryside. And the statistical explanation is, that small samples tend more to extreme results than big samples. During my life, I learned a lot about statistics, and I should have known the right answer. I am not sure if it is reassuring or concerning. I am not the only person, who ignored her statistical knowledge. From the book I learned that this mistake happens to the vast majority of experienced scientists, as well. And these are the people who create scientific models.

This explains why wrong models are developed and persist. A great example is that a lot of people still believe that if you eat a lot of fish your risk for heart disease and stroke is reduced. This is based on a study from the 1970s, in which scientists investigated the data of death of Inuit people. Based on the data the cause of death due to heart attack for Inuits is significant less compared to other peoples. And they eat a lot of fish. So, the scientists assumed, that Inuit people die less of heart attack as they eat a lot of fish. The catch is that at the times of the study the Inuit people had only rarely access to health care. Thus, the cause of death could not be determined medically and the data the researchers used were lacking. In the meantime, Canadian scientists could show, that the heart disease rate of Inuits, Europeans and North Americans is similar, whereas Inuits have a higher death rate due to stroke and on average their life expectancy is about 10 years less.

In spite of this knowledge and oddly enough I still love scientific models to get the world explained and the why answered. Whereas, I got more cautious to trust in them. And maybe, this is my way of faith.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio

2. November 2021 0 Comment 370 Views

How to Use Audios to Memorize with Great Ease

by Corinna Freitag 5. October 2021

During my childhood I liked to listen to stories about a little witch called Bibi Blocksberg. I had about 20 audio tapes with Bibi having exciting adventures. I listened so often to them that I knew them all by heart and I could recite them with great ease. I never thought about using this later in my life whenever I wanted to memorize new learnings.

Recently, my coach recommended to produce my own audio recording and to listen to it regularly when I want to learn something new. First it felt a little awkward to record my own audio file. But with every smartphone having a voice recorder it is so simple to do. So, I gave it a try.

To improve my English grammar, I started to read a book in which the author untangles the knottiest problems in the English language in a lighthearted and funny way. Just in the first chapter I found already a lot of good insights about items, where I usually struggle. In order not to forget them I noted them down in an Excel File. The next time when I stumbled over the grammar when I wrote a text for a mail or a blog article I remembered that I had read about it in the book. But I did not remember the details, and could not apply it. I had to look it up in my excel file. As I did not find this very practical, and was also too lazy to memorize it by for example reading my notes every day, I remembered the recommendation from my coach. I just recorded the different items and created my first audio file recording with a length of about 6 minutes. I listen to it every morning, when I prepare my Smoothie. And it works. Just by listening to it frequently I know them by heart and can easily apply them, when I am writing. And bear with me, so far I read only the first two chapters out of 12 😉

Next, I came across my targets. Proudly, I had created a list with my targets for the next months and my vision for the next years. After the creation my targets were sitting in an excel file and doing not so much. I thought to give it a try with a self-recorded audio file with my targets, as well. It does not only work. It is also a lot of fun – to produce the recording and listen to it. Now, every morning when I prepare my Smoothie, I listen to my English grammar and to my target audio files. And listening to my target audio is so much fun that sometimes I listen to it during the day for several times.

I love this technique using self-recorded audio files to learn something by heart. And I am sure that many more will follow. Maybe, you want to give it a try, as well.

Photo by Ashutosh Sonwani

5. October 2021 0 Comment 326 Views

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